Seeing the young girl walk away, although Liang Yan desperately wanted that calligraphy copy, he could only give up helplessly. To stalk a girl of eleven or twelve, and even kill her to seize a treasure—he told himself he simply could not bring himself to commit such a wretched act.
Liang Yan sighed inwardly, gave the shopkeeper one last look, and flicked his sleeves as he exited the "Yuyuan Pavilion."
He turned left and then right through the city, heading toward the west. Before long, he suddenly turned off the main road and entered a secluded alley. Although the alley was winding and its end was not in sight, the fact that it was completely deserted suggested it was likely a dead end.
However, Liang Yan did not stop; he continued walking toward the depths of the alley at a leisurely pace. As he rounded a corner, he saw a black-skinned dog, half the height of a man, blocking the middle of the road, lying on the ground and snoring loudly.
Liang Yan smiled slightly, stepped over the black dog, and continued walking inward as if nothing had happened.
The black dog seemed not to have woken up, remaining sprawled on the ground. If this scene were witnessed by the local street thugs, their jaws would surely drop in shock.
Because normally, regardless of who passed by, this dog would fly into a violent rage; no one believed it was ever truly asleep. Several times, people had tried to sneak past while it appeared to be sleeping, only to be leaped upon and injured. Eventually, people stopped coming here altogether.
As Liang Yan passed, the black dog merely twitched its nose, rolled over, and continued sleeping.
Liang Yan walked along the alley for a while longer and finally stopped before a residence at the very end. The courtyard was dilapidated; the outer wooden door was merely symbolically ajar, too broken to actually close.
He paused at the entrance for a moment, then reached out and pushed the door open.
With a creak, the scene inside was revealed. In the courtyard sat a wooden table, and behind it, a grandmaster chair. A middle-aged scholar lay in the chair, looking leisurely as he sipped from a purple clay teapot.
Seeing someone push open the door, the scholar immediately stood up and looked Liang Yan up and down.
"Huh? Why is there not a single ripple of cultivation fluctuation from this youth? He looks like a mortal. Well, no matter; since he passed the black dog's trial, he certainly isn't an ordinary mortal. Perhaps he has a method to hide his cultivation."
Thinking this, the scholar nodded and smiled at Liang Yan. "I am Lu Quan, humbly serving as the manager of this place. May I ask the Fellow Daoist's honorable name?"
Liang Yan returned the smile. "I am Liang Yan, a disciple of the Yixing Pavilion." As he spoke, he tossed the array-vein miscellaneous disciple token from his storage bag to the other man.
Lu Quan caught it and scanned it. He thought to himself, "No wonder! He is a disciple of the Yixing Pavilion. No wonder his divine abilities are so formidable that even I cannot see through his true depth."
He looked at Liang Yan again, his attitude becoming increasingly respectful. "So a disciple of the Upper Sect has graced us with his presence. I, Lu, failed to welcome you properly; how shameful, how shameful! Has Fellow Daoist Liang come for the travel permit?"
Liang Yan nodded. "Exactly!"
"Fellow Daoist Liang, please wait a moment. I shall go and fetch it for you." After speaking, Lu Quan returned the token to Liang Yan and turned to enter the inner room.
Liang Yan did not wait long before he saw Lu Quan emerge from the house, holding a talisman in his hand.
"Fellow Daoist Liang, thank you for waiting. This is the travel permit for the upcoming Screen Mountain Exchange Meeting. Each person only has one opportunity to collect it. Please keep it safe."
Liang Yan thanked him and took the talisman, then asked seemingly casually, "I wonder what treasures will be put up for auction at this exchange meeting."
Lu Quan looked embarrassed and said, "I am only responsible for the distribution of travel permits here; I truly do not know the list of items for the auction. Furthermore, these are generally not disclosed to the public."
"I see," Liang Yan nodded. "Then does Fellow Daoist Lu know if 'Intoxicating Fragrance' is among the auction items?"
Lu Quan lowered his head in thought for a while and said with some uncertainty, "I have heard mention of this 'Intoxicating Fragrance,' and there is a high probability it will be on the auction list. Moreover, 'Intoxicating Fragrance' is a secret concoction of the Fragrance-Sensing Sect, and the Fragrance-Sensing Sect has sent people to attend the exchange meeting. Fellow Daoist Liang would be best to inquire on the mountain; perhaps you can obtain more accurate intelligence."
"Thank you for the reminder, Fellow Daoist Lu!" Liang Yan smiled and thanked Lu Quan before turning to leave the courtyard.
Walking along the streets of Screen City, Liang Yan thought to himself, "There are still three days until the exchange meeting. I might as well go look for the people of the Fragrance-Sensing Sect. If I can buy the 'Intoxicating Fragrance' before the auction, I can avoid some complications."
During his last trip to Yongle Town with Tang Diexian, he had captured many spoils of war. Although he hadn't had time to sell them yet, he already had over a thousand spirit stones on hand. Ordinarily, buying the "Intoxicating Fragrance" at an auction shouldn't be difficult. However, auctions inevitably carry risks, and no one can guarantee the final result.
After weighing his options, Liang Yan felt it was best to communicate with the people of the Fragrance-Sensing Sect in advance. Even if it meant spending every penny he owned, he had to buy this item, as it concerned his very life and death.
With these thoughts, Liang Yan entered a rather grand restaurant by the roadside. After all, his current cultivation was insufficient; he was far from reaching the stage of Bigu (fasting). He planned to satisfy his stomach here before departing for the site of the exchange meeting.
Perhaps because it wasn't yet noon, there were not many people in the restaurant, making it quite peaceful.
Liang Yan went straight to the second floor, where there were even fewer people. In the vast space, only two or three tables were occupied. He picked a quiet corner to sit in and ordered a few side dishes and a pot of tea from the waiter.
He hadn't been sitting there long when he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps coming upstairs, followed by a figure in emerald green.
"It's her!" Liang Yan's heart stirred.
The newcomer was none other than the little girl who had "stolen the love" at the Yuyuan Pavilion!
The girl seemed not to notice him and walked straight to an empty table. After quietly ordering two dishes from the arriving waiter, she stopped speaking, but her shifty eyes occasionally stole glances toward another table.
Following her gaze, Liang Yan looked toward that table and saw three men drinking. All three had the cultivation of the second level of Qi Refining and wore identical blue robes; they were likely disciples of the same sect or organization.
With the exchange meeting at the peak of Screen Mountain imminent, encountering a few cultivators in Screen City at the foot of the mountain was perfectly normal.
The three men toasted each other, whispering and communicating in low voices from time to time. They were clearly suppressing their voices. Out of curiosity, Liang Yan operated his "Hooligan Technique" to its full extent, but he only heard fragments of words and could not make out the meaning.
Just as he shook his head, intending to give up, he suddenly heard someone say, "Fragrance-Sensing Sect."
Liang Yan was inwardly shaken. He forcibly suppressed his agitation and exerted every effort to listen to the conversation. However, the voices of the three men grew lower and lower, until they were almost inaudible.
"Could these three be disciples of the Fragrance-Sensing Sect?" This thought suddenly flashed through Liang Yan's mind.
"Although I've heard that the top-tier techniques of some sects are only suitable for women, meaning the sects are mostly female, it doesn't mean these sects have no male disciples. After all, not everyone can achieve success in cultivation; some spend their entire lives merely at the early stage of Qi Refining. These sects also recruit some male disciples to serve as miscellaneous laborers."
The more Liang Yan thought about it, the more likely it seemed. He couldn't help but feel a secret joy—as the saying goes, "searching everywhere in vain, only to find it without any effort." He had just planned to look for the Fragrance-Sensing Sect, and here they were, delivering themselves to his door.
Feeling happy, Liang Yan couldn't resist pouring himself a cup of fragrant tea and taking a slow sip.
But before he could swallow, his brow suddenly twitched, and his eyes flicked forward. He saw the girl in green stand up and leave her table before the food had even arrived. As she brushed past the table of the three men in blue, her right sleeve seemed to tremble slightly, and then she walked downstairs from the other side as if nothing had happened.
Such a small movement naturally did not escape the keen Six Senses of Liang Yan. But as for what she had actually done, even Liang Yan could not be certain. He merely frowned and looked toward the direction the girl had departed with a face full of confusion.
(End of Chapter)